Homes becoming more affordable

According to a report released by the Housing Industry Association, it’s getting easier to buy a home with house prices falling 3.4% in capital cities. Yesterday I mentioned that domain.com.au was saying that prices should start rising again … now the HIA is saying that things should remain pretty steady. I guess it all depends on who you ask:

â€œIt is highly likely that the worst of the affordability crisis has passed as the favourable combination of stable interest rates, higher incomes and soft house prices will most likely continue throughout 2006.
But despite these positives, there is little chance that affordability will return to the favourable levels last seen in the late 1990â€™s where on average, home buyers entering the market needed to commit 18 per cent of their take home pay towards mortgage payments. Currently, home buyers need to put aside 28 per cent of their income.â€
– HIAâ€™s Executive Director of Housing and Economics, Mr Simon Tennent